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mRRENG HARDING 







Warren G. Harding 
-The Man 



hy 

Joe Mitchell Chapple 




BOSTON 

Chappie Publishing Company, Limited 

1920 



Co;-" ^ 






Copyright, 1920, by 

JOE MITCHELL CHAPPLE 

Boston, Mass. 



M-^^ V 



CONTENTS 

Page 

I. The Call for Leadership 7 

II. A Man of "Manifest Destiny" 1^ 

III, A Blue-eyed Babe in Blooming Grove ... 21 

IV. Boyhood Days in a Country Town 29 

V. College Days at the "Central Ohio" 35 

VI. Beginning Life in a Big Town 41 

VII. The Hardings a Hardy Breed 47 

VIII. The Broadening Field of Public Service . 57 

IX. When the News Reached the Home Folks . 65 

X. The Measure of the Man 71 

XI. Character the Reality 77 

XII. The Log Book of Life 83 

XIII. By His Greetings You Shall Know Him . 89 

XIV. His Relations with Theodore Roosevelt . . 95 
XV. A Four-square Leader 101 

XVI. Anecdotal "Close-ups" 107 

XVII. The Test of a Printer-Partner 115 

XVIII. Champion of Americanism 123 



FOREWORD 

THIS book is written as a friend would speak of 
a friend, whose superb qualities of manhood, 
known to his friends and neighbors, are to be 
made known to the world under the searching spotlight 
of a Presidential Campaign. 

When a friend appeared and offered to stand sponsor 
for a book, I could not resist. There was a fire in my 
bones that impelled me to write when Warren G. Harding 
was nominated for President of the United States. 
While not intended as a political book, there is an 
earnest intent that the reader may feel that this tribute 
is tempered with the restraint due to dealing with future 
events, and that it is not inspired by partisan bias. 

All America loves a man — no matter under what 
party banner he may enlist. 

"God, give us men!" 

This was the cry of the poet, John G. Holland, in the 
days following the Civil War. The cry is still heard in 
the land! That is why I delight to write of Warren G. 
Harding, first and last, as a Man — irrespective of other 
distinctions that may come to him. 



Boston O^ ^JiX<JuJjC C^lo/l^iZt/^ 



THE CALL FOR LEADERSHIP 



THE CALL FOR LEADERSHIP 



ON the tablets of Time is burned the 
memory— even the history of those whose 
Uves are dedicated to the cause of human- 
ity. And it is well. Little do we remember, little 
do most of us care, less do most of us think of 
the inner motives which mould the bigger 
motives that make us free or happy. Perhaps it 
is a law of Nature to forget. Human relations, 
even nations, start with the family. Who ever 
heard of a family that individually or collect- 
ively took the pains to consider the tiny, indis- 
cernible, extrinsic elements that make for the 
most expedient and beneficent management and 
government of that little group. 

It is the same way with nations. 

Men come and men go. Ever and anon are 
the sweep of new thought, new interests, new 
problems, new fields to develop, new hazards 
that must be braved, new corruptions that 

(7) 



8 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

must be crushed, new enterprises that must be 
sponsored. StabiUty of man and mankind is 
as impracticable as an attempt to lull the At- 
lantic into an everlasting quiet. Times change, 
men change and thought changes, even as desire 
changes. Which leads to my objective — the 
intention of declaring that the institution most 
affected by this intangible, elusive, multi- 
polygon of doubt and human nature is our sys- 
tem of bestowing on certain individuals the 
honor and responsibility of capably interpreting 
our likes and dislikes, our fears and hopes, our 
ambitions and our follies. This art of caring for 
the multifarious wants of millions comes under 
the name of "politics," a noun too large for 
proper classification by our deans of English, 
a word that has a scope bounded only by the 
Arctic snows, the southern seas, and the wills 
and wants of mankind. Indeed, it is a word 
of illusions. Its par-value fluctuates on the 
exchange of opinions. In fact, if it ever had a 
par value such value was only temporary, only 
a passing whim. 

Leaders are men who know the operation of 
of other minds and have a capacity for co- 
operative effort. And these qualities of a new 
leader, quiet and unobtrusive, stand out as a 



The Call for Leadership 9 

marked characteristic. The man whom everyone 
Hkes within the entire circle of close acquain- 
tance is the man who likes everybody. The 
equation is never failing. 

Whoever understood politics? Who dares to 
prophesy, with any degree of scientific accuracy, 
where politics holds sway? 

Combining the highest ethics and ideals, and 
the lowest trickery and intrigue, some people 
are prone to look with suspicion upon politi- 
cians as the black sheep — others as the white- 
fleeced leaders of the flocks. 

But— 

We remember that a political convention 
gave to the world Abraham Lincoln. 

The acquaintance of nations with its leaders 
passes through varied processes. The hour, 
the time and the responsibility demand men 
fitted for the occasion. It is difficult to name 
the specific hour, time, and particular respon- 
sibility that foreshadow the faith that comes 
from friendships, individual and collective, that 
crystallize into public favor, permanent and 
enduring. Humanity loves Lincoln today be- 
cause even in the days of 1860, unknown and 
untried, the home folks were the first to insist 
that he possessed those fundamental virtues 



10 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

that come with a virile, heartsome neighborH- 
ness which could not be limited by state or 
national boundary lines. In Lincoln we find 
included some traits of our very own selves, 
which he encompassed so completely and com- 
prehensively through his contact with the "plain 
people," as he loved to call us, that his com- 
pleted circle of greatness finds a place for all 
humankind. 

The American people have ever placed the 
homely virtues and common sense as the first 
qualification of a public servant. They natu- 
rally love and follow a public man who mani- 
festly has some of our own virtues and even 
some of our own faults, but whose whole nature 
is in the large mould of a man who understands 
his fellow-man. 

The flowers of friendship bud, bloom, and 
alas, even in their fading, defy all description 
based on a concrete incident. You cannot tell 
just why, when or how you began admiring or 
even loving a friend. In the light of a bor- 
rowed match you may have caught the glow on 
the face of a man for whom friendship blossomed 
in the all-pervading kindly sunlight of a casual 
greeting. The result of this may be a kinship 
as close as blood ties — a fruitage that just grows. 



The Call for Leadership 11 

In the early days of the month of June, 1920, 
I felt the wild call of politics. The eyes of the 
world were focused on the metropolis of the 
Mid- West, where nine hundred and eighty -four 
men and women were expressing the will of 
milions. The roar was reaching me. I felt the 
pulse-beat of stirring multitudes. 

From the time Chairman Will H. Hays 
opened the proceedings by declaring it the 
greatest free-for-all national political conven- 
tion ever held, it was anyone's guess upon 
whom the high honor of the nomination would 
fall. 

Bossless, leaderless, the delegates found them- 
selves in a haze of speculation. They queried 
each other: 

"Well, who is it going to be?" 

And nobody could answer. 

The time for a new leader had come. The 
delegates were there. The bosses were not 
there. It was a great moment in history — the 
one time in which the voice of every one of the 
millions of sovereign voters directly shape and 
influence the destinies of our own country in 
choosing a President. This convention was the 
prelude of the balloting tribunal in November, 
which will prove the greatest referendum ever 
known in history. 



12 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

Then, one afternoon came a thrill that sent 
the blood surging in my veins. There was a 
friend who now stood almost on the high peak 
of party favor. The whole world was looking 
at him, wondering about him, inquiring about 
him, thinking about him. The Republican 
National Convention had nominated Warren 
G. Harding, for President of the United States 
of America. 



A MAN OF "MANIFEST DESTINY" 



II 



A MAN OF "MANIFEST DESTINY' 



HAVE you ever heard a friend who rises 
to pubhc prominence discussed by people 
from random impressions? From a pho- 
tograph, from a ghmpse in pubhc hfe, from 
stray paragraphs, the picture of the man is 
formed. Then you begin to reaHze how few 
pubhc men are really known by the people. 
The true proportions may not always prevail in 
the perspective of an admiring friend, any more 
than in the hazy, indistinct notions that enhalo 
a new leader whom destiny has thrust into the 
foreground of world activities. 

In 1916 I stood on the platform of the Coli- 
seum at Chicago after the Republican Conven- 
tion had adjourned sine die. As Warren G. 
Harding laid down the gavel, a group of admiring 
friends gathered about and chorused the 
remark: "You will be nominated here four 
years hence." The remark passed as one of the 

(16) 



16 r| Warren G. Harding — The Man 

casual political prophecies, but events recall 
events. 

It was in 1912 when Warren G. Harding first 
addressed the delegates of the Republican Con- 
vention. It was not a brilliant or pyrotechnic 
speech. It was too balanced to suit the 
temper of the times, and he, like many others, 
was consigned by political wiseacres to the 
oblivion that envelops passing figures in the 
political panorama. There was something in 
his bearing and presence on the platform, how- 
ever, which indicated to keen observers that he 
was in an environment he understood, and for 
which he was fitted. The whirlwind of political 
discussion was not new to him. At that time 
there were rivals and opponents who felt a 
respect for this well-matured and well-equipped 
spokesman for his people. They insisted, just as 
the "home folks" did, that here was a man in 
the full and unmeasured sense of the word. 

He looked, acted and spoke the part of the 
typical American, concerning whom admirers 
might venture the conviction: 

"Some day that man will be President!" 

When he was elected Lieutenant-Governor of 
Ohio, his friends felt there was a Governor-in- 
the-making, but alas, political tides ebb and 




Co/hvng/i/. Edmonston, Wash. 

Mrs. Warren G. Harding 



A Man of ''Manifest Destiny" . 17 

flow, and he was defeated because of a divided 
party. Four years later he was elected United 
States Senator — one of the first in this country 
chosen by the direct vote of the people. 

The senatorial toga came to him as Ohio's 
tribute to his fitness to deal with national 
problems, as revealed first of all in his address 
at the Republican National Convention two 
years before, and his presiding genius in the 
turbulent days of 1916 — four years later. 

When the list of presidential nominees for 
the Republican party, with its high prospects 
of success, were reviewed in 1920, his name was 
never far in the background. 

"He came from behind," as they say in real 
sports. 

His primary campaign was so modest that 
two-thirds of all the funds were contributed by 
the "home folks" at Marion. Every dollar 
carried the conviction of the "home folks" — 
those who knew the man — that he should be 
President. Some of the campaign funds were 
returned. 

The unpretentious way in which his campaign 
was conducted was indicated in the cards used 
in the Republican Convention in Chicago. 
They were the very same as those used in the 



18 Warre7i G. Harding — The Man 

state primaries a month previous, with the words 
"primaries (May 4th)" blotted out. The same 
printed hkeness of Mr. Harding was carried by 
the delegates, as by the voters of Ohio. The 
whole appeal was so simple and modest at 
Chicago that the Harding men could easily 
wear the cards, like a miner's torch, in their hats. 
All of which recalled the simplicity of Lincoln's 
campaign in 1860. 

In 1920, memorable year of history, the three- 
hundredth anniversary of the Landing of the 
Pilgrim Fathers is to be celebrated. Once again 
will be re-affirmed those basic principles of 
representative government which were drawn 
up under the light of a swinging lantern, in 
the cabin of the Mayflower. May there not be 
something analogous — something of "manifest 
destiny" in the nomination of a man whose 
ancestors were of that same hardy stock, 
and who, generation after generation, have 
carried into domestic and public life the flint of 
Plvmouth Rock.'^ 



A BLUE-EYED BABE IN BLOOMING 
GROVE 



Ill 



A BLUE-EYED BABE IN BLOOMING 
GROVE 

YEARS ago the little hamlet was called 
Corsica, after the birthplace of Napoleon, 
but the flowers of the woods and the 
prairie suggested the name of Blooming Grove, 
to which it was changed. One hundred years 
ago, on a little eminence outside this Ohio vil- 
lage, the Hardings located. Midway in this 
century, November 2, 1865, a blue-eyed boy was 
born, in a farmhouse amid simple surrounding. 
The mother rejoiced that her first-born was a 
boy, for she had dreams concerning his destiny. 
The old daguerreotypes, still in existence, show 
the serene Phoebe Dickerson and Tyron Hard- 
ing in a pleasing romance at sweet sixteen. This 
picture reveals the unusual charm of Warren 
Harding's mother. When the youthful suitor 
proposed marriage, this sensible girl said: 

"No, Tyron, w^e must wait until we have an 
education." And wait they did, both gradu- 

(21) 



22 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

ating later in medicine, and each equipped with 
a knowledge of the physical basis of life and the 
ability not only to live well themselves, but to 
help others to live. 

Those were the days of large families; yet it 
is striking to note how near to extinction this 
branch of the Harding line came. Owing to 
the Indian massacres, only a single Harding 
remained, yet like the Nile, almost disappearing 
at times, the family strain broadened in the 
next generation, no less than nineteen names 
appearing in the family bible record. 

The boy, Warren, was named for the hus- 
band of "Aunt Tillie," who was Rev. Warren 
Gamaliel Bancroft, a Methodist preacher who 
lived a long life of usefulness in active service, 
and who watched with warm interest the 
development of his namesake. 

As a young country editor in a far-away state, 
I had the friendship and counsel of this self- 
same minister; but never thought of the added 
distinction which might come to Warren G. 
Bancroft after his life-work was done. 

True to the name he bore, the child was an 
early student at his mother's knee, listening to 
Bible stories and always "hungry for more." 
Before he could read, he was committing to 



A Blue-eyed Babe in Blooming Grove 23 

memory the great sentiments and truths of 
the Scriptures. Before he knew even his alpha- 
bet his mother read him many books. During 
these formative days there grew up a beautiful 
intimacy with his mother that was never broken. 
Her passionate fondness for flowers was com- 
municated to the son, who, in all the after years, 
whether at home or across the seas, whether 
alone or among multitudes, had flowers for her 
every Sunday morning as long as she lived. 
She passed away in 1910, but he still clings to 
the custom of having flowers in his room each 
Sunday to recall the sacred memory, thus 
observing "Mother's Day" every week of the 
year. 

The child grew up as he should — to be just a 
boy, not a prodigy, but humanly normal. He 
ran away and had to be' tied to the bedpost, like 
other boys. Yet in all his discipline, no actual 
blow was ever struck — his mother's method 
being to seat the boy smartly in a chair, and 
then look straight into his eyes and say, "Now, 
Warren!" Then would begin that earnest coun- 
sel, that reasoning, that guidance suffused with 
mother-heartedness, which constituted the whole 
of the maternal authority. 

These first five years of life at Blooming 



24 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

Grove have left their mark. The father and 
mother were busy with their patients and re- 
sponses to calls from far and near. Those were 
the days of agues, chills and fever, demanding 
from the doctor and his wife time and absence 
from home, even to sitting up nights with the 
sick and the sorrowing; but never the night 
that little Warren was not with his mother, 
even on her errands of mercy. 

At the village store one day there arrived 
some red-topped, brass-toed boots for little 
boys. In that day the ambition of the smallest 
son was to wear boots like father's. Little 
Warren was told that he might go and 
"look" at them. He toddled down, and 
his blue eyes sparkled as he saw the coveted 
red-tops. 

"Do you want to take them home?" asked the 
shrewdly observant country storekeeper, as he 
patted the lad on the head. That was enough 
for Warren; his little arms were outstretched, 
and he promptly opened his first "charge ac- 
count," feeling sure that his "credit" would be 
backed by "Daddy," if not by "Mother." 
When he had said his prayers that night, he 
seized the red-topped boots and begged that he 
might take them to bed with him, and as the 



A Blue-eyed Babe in Blooming Grove 25 

mother stooped to kiss him she saw closely 
snuggled in his arms the little red-topped 
boots. 

She left him to dream the angel dreams of 
childhood. 



BOYHOOD DAYS IN A COUNTRY TOWN 



IV 



BOYHOOD DAYS IN A COUNTRY TOWN 



WHEN I think of Warren G. Harding, the 
man, I love to recall those rollicking 
tales related of his boyhood — just the 
average small -town -farmer -boy career. The 
"moving to town" was an event — and the hay 
rack* served as the van. Then came the days 
and nights, too, to do chores, for even in the 
city, there was the doctor's horse and the cow, 
and school days succeeded happy vacation 
hours. He was early recognized by associates 
as a careful leader. He did not venture far out 
in Whetstone Creek until he knew he could 
swim. He had his jean trousers and his ging- 
ham suit dipped and tied in a knot while in 
swimming — as others had before him. 

But he untied the knots. 

He played Indian and Pom Pom Pullaway, 
and played hard, but there was always a feeling 
among teachers that "Doc," as he was nick- 

(29) 



30 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

named, would pull through the examinations, 
although he could not be called the "model boy" 
in school. He loved to speak pieces, and his 
rendering of Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty 
or Give Me Death" was at least concluded with 
the graceful bow then taught in schools. 

These eventful years from four to sixteen — 
milking the cows, working in the fields, painting 
fences, keeping the wood box filled — although 
not perhaps discerned at the time, are where a 
life career is often determined. Rather shy, 
big and awkward, Warren Harding was known 
as a serious boy, with an inclination to write 
essays and an occasional flight to "po^ry." 
He pored over encyclopedias now and then, to 
drink deep in the biography of his favorite Na- 
poleon and Alexander Hamilton. In order to 
have his essays in real type, he was ambitious 
to become a printer. Perched on a stool, he 
soon learned the "boxes" in the Caledonia Argus 
office. He quickly learned the printer's trade, 
and the glory of Gutenburg was upon him when 
he had the privilege of "throwing in pi," that is, 
distributing back into the boxes the jumbled 
mass of type that had fallen "off its feet." 

Caledonia had a brass band, a real cornet 
band, and young Harding played an alto horn 



Boyhood Days in a Country Town 31 

and learned that "after beats" were as import- 
ant as the slip horn or solo trombone. Later 
on, when the family moved to Marion, he 
joined the band there, and became its youthful 
manager. That excursion of the new band to 
Chicago, upon the occasion of the opening of the 
Erie Railroad, with $2.40 expense money, was 
an event in the young life of the alto player of 
the Caledonia Cornet Band, who sweltered in a 
helmet somewhat large for him. What is life in 
a country town without "belonging to the 
band?" 

The literary society, debates, amateur dra- 
matics, in fact all activities included the services 
of the quiet, but ever-ready American lad. 

Young Warren had made a trip to the circus 
at Marion and had been there with "the band." 
But to live in the county seat, where the big 
stone court house was located, and where the 
railroads were all junctionized, looked like a 
real future. On to college was the exhilarating 
vision of Dr. Harding and his wife and family 
of children in the early eighties. 

These were the days when Caledonia boasted 
of eight hundred population and proved it by 
the census. Now it is six hundred, but there 
are some pessimists left who insist this is too 



32 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

high. There are fine frame houses, and it is a 
real "home town." The history of all the 
famous men who have gone from the town 
cluster about high school traditions. 

There were tears in the ej^es of playmates on 
the day the Harding children left Caledonia. 
Iberia then seemed far away. Little groups of 
the chums gathered, and in brusque boy fashion 
bade "Doc" Harding, good-bye, with pledges to 
continue to keep the secrets of the "Stunners" 
sacred and to smash the "Chain Gang," the 
rival organization, at first chance. Then they 
whispered confidentially that they would let 
him know if the girls were planning one of those 
deaf and dumb "surprise parties" where they 
served lady -fingers and salad. 

Boyhood ties were broken, but boyhood mem- 
ories remained. 




Dr. George Tyron Harding 
Father of Warren C. Harding. Dr. Harding was seventy-six years old 
on the day his son was nominated for President 



COLLEGE DAYS AT THE "CENTRAL 
OHIO" 



COLLEGE DAYS AT THE "CENTRAL 
OHIO" 

THE distance from the High School in Cale- 
donia, which Harding attended, to the 
Central Ohio College in Iberia was only 
seven short miles — an easy walking distance 
for the long-legged farmer lad. The college 
no longer exists, having succumbed to institu- 
tions with larger facilities. This college, founded 
before the Civil War, was a famous under- 
ground railway station, pregnant with thrilling 
Abolition tales which have never been printed. 
At the age of fifteen, Warren Harding appeared 
at this co-educational institution, one of only 
sixty students. The college was founded by 
the United Presbyterian Church, but it later 
became undenominational. Dr. Harding hav- 
ing the education of his children uppermost in 
mind, moved his family to a farm three miles 
away, where young Warren could conveniently 
attend college and have the week-ends at home. 

(36) 



36 Warren G, Harding — The Man 

At the age of seventeen he became a school 
teacher, mainly because it was the habit of 
country youths to take a turn at teaching. 

In his three years at this institution Warren 
Harding maintained the traditions of school 
days portrayed by Tom Brown at Rugby. Al- 
though in 1910 he received the degree of Doctor 
of Law from Northern Ohio University, the one 
reminder which the village people point to with 
most pride is the door of Dr. Virtue's office, 
painted by Warren Harding forty years ago, 
with pigments and craftsmanship that have 
withstood the ravages of time. It was good 
paint. 

On the site of the old college on a shaded knoll 
resides Frank Miller, an old classmate. He 
was a Harding booster at the Chicago Conven- 
tion and returned to the green meadows fringed 
with maples, with a feeling that his old chum 
had at last realized some of the visions they 
chaffingly discussed in the moments when 
studies grew dull and they walked far afield. 

Now came the flood of college anecdotes. 
Warren did not fancy chemistry as a study, but 
delighted in its experimental opportunities. 
The teacher's desk proved a luring laboratory. 
Underneath was placed a bottle of hydrogen 



College Days at the ''Central Ohio'' 37 

sulphide, which was popular because of its 
strong odor of addled eggs. The stopper was 
tied with a string attached to the drawer in the 
desk. This drawer when opened meant trouble. 
Meek and docile, the embryo chemists waited, 
and when the drawer was opened by the teacher 
everyone "just looked around," holding their 
offended nostrils to escape the olfactory torture. 
All assisted in the search, but the aged eggs 
were never found to this day, for at noon the 
bottle was removed and the mystery remained 
unsolved. 

The new professor was always telling the 
students that they were not as smart as the boys 
at Delaware, where he formerly taught. In 
the geometry class one day he remarked: 

"I wish you boys would do things as they do 
them at Delaware." 

That night Warren Harding accepted the chal- 
lenge — he stayed up far into the morning hours 
studying his geometry. At the recitation the 
following morning he was called on and 
demonstrated propositions for two solid class 
hours without an error until the professor fairly 
gasped and asked him to cease. 

"Is that as good as they do at Delaware.^" 
asked Warren, with a twinkle in his eye. The 



38 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

professor said: "I think it is." After that there 
was nothing more said about the boys at Dela- 
ware. 

The three years at college deepened his deter- 
mination to try a newspaper career and follow 
the impulse which had come to him when set- 
ting type in the little brick building which still 
stands in the town square, where the village 
paper was printed. During vacations he re- 
turned to Caledonia and worked in a brickyard, 
a stiff job in hot weather, but young Harding 
was equal to the emergency. 

There were hints of some college romance 
and long walks down the country road in the 
autumn moonlight, and sleighing parties in the 
tingling air of winter. Still living in this local- 
ity are some of his old college mates, among 
them the co-eds that are now looking up the 
scrawled notes which read with classic for- 
mality, "Will you accept my company home 
tonight?" and bearing a signature that now has 
the possibility of sending out invitations to 
visit the White House.! 



BEGINNING LIFE IN A BIG TOWN 



VI 



BEGINNING LIFE IN A BIG TOWN 



GRADUATING from college, young Hard- 
ing's eyes turned toward Marion as the 
"big town" to "grow up with" and 
launch his "bark on the stormy seas of life" — 
as read the girl's valedictory. The railroad 
maps encouraged the vision that here was to be 
builded a real city. Always keeping in mind 
the interests of his growing family, Dr. Harding 
decided to move to this county seat. He and 
the mother ever remained the pals of their boys 
and girls. Young Warren soon decided that 
his star would shine in the firmament if he could 
work on a newspaper. A job secured on a 
Democratic newspaper, young Harding felt that 
his destiny was assured, for he was permitted 
to write locals and put them in type and to run 
the old hand press. The father was an enthu- 
siastic admirer of James G. Blaine, and so was 
his son, Warren. Those were the days of in- 

(41) 



42 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

tense feeling, either for or against James G. 
Blaine. The editor of the paper despised the 
name of Blaine and when he found young Hard- 
ing wearing a Blaine hat, that was enough. He 
lost his job. The fire of determination was 
awakened in the youth whose dreams had been 
so rudely shattered. At the age of nineteen 
he and a brother printer, Jack Warwick, bought 
the Marion Star, then a struggling newspaper, 
where the "ghost*' seldom "walked" on Saturday 
— pay day. His father helped him, but dis- 
claims ever having any interest, direct or indi- 
rect, in the paper, and Warren G. Harding soon 
became "editor and publisher" of a Republican 
newspaper. 

Now it was work in earnest. He began set- 
ting editorials directly from the case, and ad- 
dressed the wrappers going to the few admiring 
subscribers included in the list of old school 
friends in Caledonia — ten miles away. The 
people of Marion and the farmers roundabout 
soon grew to admire and love the hard-working 
young editor in his struggles to provide for 
paper, ink, and payrolls. The Star kept right 
on shining and growing more luminous as the 
crisp and earnest editorials, hearty home-like 
"locals" appeared. At one time or another the 



Beginning Life in a Big Town 43 

name of nearly every man, woman and child in 
Marion appeared in the columns of the Star. 

Although famed far and wide as a strong 
speaker, he was timid about public addresses 
at home. When he delivered his lecture on 
''Alexander Hamilton," and took an active part 
in the local Chautauqua, the home people were 
not thinking of him as a great speaker, but just 
looked at him and thought the old thoughts. 

The real relations to friends at home are 
expressed in the instructions given to all workers 
and reporters on the Marion Star by Warren G. 
Harding when he launched his career: 

Remember there are two sides to every question. 
Get both. Be truthful. Get the facts. Mistakes are 
inevitable, but strive for accuracy. I would rather have 
one story exactly right than a hundred half wrong. Be 
decent; be fair; be generous. Boost — don't knock. 
There's good in everybody. Bring out the good in 
everybody, and never needlessly hurt the feelings of 
anybody. In reporting a political gathering give the 
facts; tell the story as it is, not as you would like to 
have it. Treat all parties alike. If there's any politics 
to be played, we will play it in our Editorial Columns- 
Treat all religious matters reverently. If it can possi- 
bly be avoided, never bring ignominy to an innocent 
man or child in telling of the misdeeds or misfortune of 
a relative. Don't wait to be asked, but do it without 
the asking, and, above all, be clean and never let a 



44 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

dirty word or suggestive story get into type. I want 
this paper so conducted that it can go into any home 
without destroying the innocence of any child. 

Warren G. Harding. 

The common sense and vigor of the young 
editor were revealed in a well-defined policy for 
the conduct of a newspaper. It did not attract 
circulation at first, but eventually it won the 
confidence that endures with life. In public 
service Warren G. Harding never dodged the 
drudgery of his duty. Every question was to 
him a matter of thorough, conscientious, bal- 
anced judgment. He wrote editorials every day 
on public problems which were quoted far and 
wide in Ohio-land, as his reputation as a sound 
thinker began to find the furthermost boundary 
lines of the nation. 

Warren Harding is never afraid of himself 
and understands self-expression. He does not 
strangle that impulse which lies within us to live, 
feel and think with others, realizing the richness 
of Hellenic ideals. 



THE HARDINGS A HARDY BREED 



VII 



THE HARDINGS A HARDY BREED 



IN the early struggles of rearing the family, 
the definite plan of father and mother was 
to educate their children. Little was said 
of ancestors. They were too busy with the 
problems of the present. In moving about, 
many of the old relics and heirlooms and records 
were scattered, but relatives in the East kindly 
furnished the Harding brothers and sisters with 
the proof of their right to be enrolled as Sons 
and Daughters of the Revolution. 

In 1624 Stephen and Richard Harding arrived 
at Weymouth Landing, Mass., and joined the 
Plymouth Colony. Later, Amos Harding left 
for Rhode Island, and when the Revolution came 
it found his descendants had again removed to 
Orange County, New York, and many of the 
Hardings enlisted and fought in the Continental 
Army with the New York troops. The restless, 
adventuresome Harding spirit prevailed, and 

(47) 



48 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

the family pushed on to Pennsylvania and 
settled in Wyoming Valley. 

On the morning before July 4 in 1778 the 
cry rang out in Wyoming valley, "Remember 
the Hardings." The brave defenders of Forty 
Fort made their attack, only to be cut down 
by the Tory Butler and his rangers, assisted 
by the Seneca Indians in their mad blood-lust. 
There were three hundred victims in the 
massacre of Wyoming, and among them many 
Hardings, ancestors of Warren G. Harding, 
who stood their ground on the frontier and left 
a tradition of devotion to their firesides, their 
country, and their freedom that is imperishable. 

Under the willows in a lonely cemetery in this 
historic vale is a modest slab erected over the 
resting place of Hardings, on which is engraved 
the epitaph: 

"Sweet be the sleep of those who preferred 
death to slavery." 

The Hardings fell three days before the 
tragic massacre that found its background in one 
of the loveliest vales of Pennsylvania. Two of 
these fighters were Revolutionary soldiers, Abra- 
ham Harding and Captain Stephen Harding. 
It was Amos, the son of Abraham, who pushed 




Mrs. G. T. Harding 
Mother of Xi'arren G. Harding {died May 29, igio) 



The Hardings a Hardy Breed 49 

on to the West and founded the pioneer home 
in Richland County (now a part of Morrow 
County), Ohio, one hundred years ago. Five 
generations of Hardings have carried on the 
traditions of their family to the Mid-West. The 
forbears of Warren G. Harding never departed 
from the ideals carried to Ohio that began with 
Stephen Harding in 1624, when he arrived from 
Devonshire, England, to become a prominent 
personage in the Providence plantations. 

Generation after generation these ideals of 
representative government have been reflected 
in the lives now obscure, and now eminent 
among the virile Harding breed who have 
played their part in the creation and triumphs 
of government that came with the founding of 
New England and the colonies of the New 
World. 

The Slocum families, related to the Hardings, 
were scalped and wiped out in the massacre, 
with the exception of a little girl of three, 
who was captured and carried off by the 
Indians. She was given up for dead after years 
of search, but the story of the lost child was 
handed down year by year. A vagrant para- 
graph in a newspaper relative to the probable 
fate of this child came to the attention of 



50 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

Colonel George Evans, an Indian trader in 
Loganport, Indiana. While among the Indians 
one day he observed a squaw who did not seem 
to act or walk like the rest of the tribe. Her 
sleeves were rolled up, revealing the white skin 
of her arm, which immediately aroused his 
suspicion. He addressed her in the Miami 
tongue, calling her a white woman, and she 
started, saying, "Yes, I was a white child, but 
I can remember nothing of my people." 

She was married to the chief of the tribe 
which captured her, but had left him to become 
the bride of the chief of the Miamis. When 
implored to return to her people she refused. 
Two grown daughters and a lifetime spent with 
the wandering savages had completely weaned 
her from her own. The spell of the wild was 
stronger than the call of civilization, and a 
monument to her memory was erected, com- 
memorating her as "The White Rose of the 
Miamis." 

These are among the traditions recounted to 
me by Warren Harding's father. 

Although Dr. Harding was seventy-six years 
of age the day his son was nominated for 
President, he is still making his daily rounds 
of calls on patients. He steps sprightly, his 



The Har dings a Hardy Breed 51 

eyes are not dimmed, nor his vigor abated. 
His memory is unerring on past as well as on 
present happenings. He seems especially well 
informed on all the current political topics, as 
well as the economic history of the country 
during his long and active life. One could see 
the influence of the brain power and tenacious 
memory of the father who had trained his son. 

The Hardings are a hardy breed. 

A visit to Dr. Harding's home, where the 
young editor lived in the struggling days of 
the Star, reveals a modest structure with maple 
trees in front and a narrow, vine-covered porch. 
Immediately one feels the homelike, hospitable 
atmosphere of a place where real boys and girls 
had lived. I had knocked several times before 
the door was opened by the handsome and 
stately sister of the Republican nominee, who 
has maintained the traditions of the family as 
a teacher in the high school for a decade. As 
she ushered me in, she seemed truly a queen in 
gingham. She had been busy about the house- 
work. Her name is Abigail Harding, but she 
is called "Miss Daisy." Another sister, Mrs. 
Votaw, of Washington, D. C, entered later, 
having returned from her work as an officer 
of the Police Court in Washington, to the old 



52 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

home. She is the sister who spent ten years 
as a missionary in India, and estabhshed mis- 
sions and dispensaries in Burmah. It was of 
her and her brother Warren — the last and the 
first born — of whom the mother had said: 

"These are consecrated for service to God 
and to humanity." 

How beautiful it was to hear this family 
speak of one another in such terms of affection, 
lending a new halo to the meaning of the Ameri- 
can home! There was the other son, Dr. 
George Tryon Harding, Jr., Columbus, Ohio, 
who had chosen his father's profession, in which 
he has achieved marked distinction. They 
spoke of Charity, Mrs. Remsberg, the sister in 
distant California, who was a great chum of 
her brother Warren, who christened her with 
the pet name of "Chatty" because of genial 
companionship. 

What large family is not blessed with the 
name of Mary ? A few years ago Mary Harding 
passed away in young womanhood, leaving to the 
family a precious heritage. Having only slight 
vision, she made golden minutes and precious 
hours of life, and saw things not revealed to the 
physical sense, and her contribution to the 
enrichment of the family was a marvelous spir- 



The Hardings a Hardy Breed 53 

ituality. For years her brother had read to 
her, hour after hour, books and papers, discuss- 
ing the great questions of the day and the phil- 
osophy of Hfe and pohtics, for which an en- 
Hghtened soul gave her a keen insight. When 
this sister and her mother passed beyond the 
sight of mortals, the arc of the family circle was 
broken and bereft of two choice spirits. 

Then we were off to the Doctor's office. The 
way was long and the day was hot. Street cars 
were running, but the sprightly young man of 
seventy-six led me off at a merry clip down the 
maple-lined avenue, while he kept up a cheery 
chat, now and then interjecting something about 
Warren and telling me of his horse and why he 
did not like automobiles. 

"I had two; one I ran into a wire fence trying 
to dodge a load of hay, and the other had a meaner 
disposition than any balky horse I ever owned." 

Up one flight in the Daily Star building, and 
I found myself in Dr. Harding's office. On the 
open door was a printed pasteboard sign, that 
had been there for many years, evidently printed 
in the Star office from wood type, reading: 



"Dr. Harding's Office" 



54 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

Open-hearted and frank, there is a whole- 
someness that made the visit with the father of 
Warren G. Harding one long to be remembered. 

Across the hall is his son Warren's editorial 
den, and together father and son have been 
real comrades, although following different pro- 
fessions. 

In the editor's office the Doctor proudly 
pointed to the picture of James G. Blaine. 

He left me to finish my notes upon the edi- 
torial desk of his son. It was a hot, sultry 
afternoon, and a little later I peeked into the 
Doctor's office. The attendant said: "The 
Doctor is taking a little nap after the rush of 
calls." 

I tiptoed quietly down stairs. He was just 
the sort of dear old dad we all love. 



THE BROADENING FIELD OF PUBLIC 
SERVICE 



VIII 

THE BROADENING FIELD OF PUBLIC 
SERVICE 

THE unfolding of the public career of War- 
ren G. Harding was as natural as the 
processes of evolution in the physical 
world. He was born to lead, trained for destiny, 
measured up to responsibility, and naturally 
grew to Presidential timber. 

The home town of Marion honors her distin- 
guished son, because from the beginning he has 
been the highest exemplification of civic re- 
sponsibility and leadership. The growth of the 
city from six thousand to thirty-six thousand 
has had no more important factor than the work 
of Warren Harding. Whatever pertained to the 
pubhc good always found in "W. G." an ardent 
advocate and supporter. Because of this, the 
"home-folk" are for him. They know him, 
believe in him, love him. 

This describes the man! As he is loved at 
home, so he has been regarded abroad, as the 
horizon of his activities has widened. 

(57) 



58 Warren G. Harding— The Man 

The qualities which have most to do with 
the creation of a strong personal following— a 
following which is not political so much as 
friendly— are first of all a rugged honesty, 
Lincolnesque in its directness and simplicity. 
It is no small tribute in a large town to know his 
friends by their first names and yet to have 
retained through a period of thirty-six years 
the trust and respect of all. Long service in a 
growing American city is a supreme test of a 
pubhc man. One of his favorite mottoes is 
"Honesty endures," and his home people declare 
him sincere as Roosevelt; affable as McKinley, 
and with Blaine's capacity for inspiring friend- 
ships. 

His first public office came as the natural 
result of his unconscious friend-making. These 
friends expressed their views from various angles. 
"We want him for the state Senate, for he 
looks like a Senator." "We will not nominate 
him for any office until we can make him Senator, 
for he speaks hke a Senator." 

This was in 1889. In the campaign, his 
enthusiastic father took the picture of his son 
from the wall and put it in the window of his 
office. This was too much for the modest 
Warren. Going in, he took it down, saying: 



The Broadening Field of Public Service 59 

**Let the other people put up the pictures, Dad; 
they all know where you stand." 

He served for four years in the turret-towered 
capital at Columbus, where his work on com- 
mittees, his insight into state and national 
questions, his team-work and conference genius 
soon marked him as a man destined for wider 
fields of usefulness. 

From this time his editorials on public and 
national questions began to attract wide atten- 
tion. Here he shows strong and big. The 
files of his paper are an open book. His every 
mood and whim was day by day, through a 
long period of years, put to the test. He stood 
four-square to all questions and discussed them 
in a fearless forum with his own people. 

His ripe judgment, graceful speech, polished 
manner soon drew him to Chautauqua platforms 
and on the circuit. His service in the state 
Senate won for him the Lieutenant-Governor- 
ship of his state in 1903. And in 1908 he first 
addressed a national Republican convention. 
In the thick of the fight he was a towering figure. 

His election to positions of public trust was 
now a succession of dates. In 1914 he was 
elected to the United States Senate from Ohio 
by over 102,000 majority. 



60 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

Now the broadening career had begun in 
earnest. The World War conflagration had 
just broken out. The beginning of his Sena- 
torial service was contemporaneous with the 
advent of a new world order. Here his long 
daily study of national and international ques- 
tions found scope. He was made a member of 
the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, had 
much to do with drafting the document declar- 
ing a state of war, and later with the conduct 
of the great combat. 

With all the exacting questions that had to be 
met, he soon proved the good judgment of his 
home state in sending him to the Senate. The 
hours of long study at home, the point of view 
gained even from the days when as a boy he sat 
in the Caledonia court room listening to the argu- 
ments of local attorneys, the ripe experience of 
long grappling with questions of national import, 
came to flower. 

He was soon recognized as a Senator of 
balanced brain and heart. His judgment was 
sound, having in it the vision of the statesman, 
together with the common sense of a trained 
business man. Perplexing judicial and diplo- 
matic questions were submitted to him, and 
in all situations his careful, well-poised, bal- 



The Broadening Field of Public Service 61 

anced point of view clarified the most complex 
situations. 

In a pre-convention address before the Home 
Market Club in Boston, he spoke from the same 
platform with Governor Coolidge, the Vice- 
Presidential nominee, and Httle did they, or any 
of those present, dream that this combination 
of brain, power and leadership would be com- 
bined on one ticket. Here Warren G. Harding 
paid a tribute to Roosevelt as the one who had 
brought the awakening of the American con- 
science and closed with this prayerful prophecy : 

FACE TO THE FRONT 

"I like to think that we in the United States of 
America have come nearer to estabHshing dependable 
popular government than any people in the world. Let 
us cling to the things which made us what we are. We 
are eminent in the world, and self-respecting as no other 
people are. Yet America has just begun. It is only 
morning in our National life, I believe there is a destiny 
for this Republic; that we are called to the inheritance, 
and are going on to its fulfillment. Let us have our 
faces to the front. Let us cling fast to the inheritance 
which is ours, never fearing the enemy from without, 
but watching the enemies from within, and move on to 
the fulfillment of a splendid destiny." 

The scene now shifts to the Republican Na- 
tional Convention at Chicago in 1920. The 



62 Warren G, Harding — The Man 

time for constructive leadership in the most 
crucial period of the world's history has come. 
"Who is sufficient for these things?" Even the 
delegates were confused. Day after day passed. 
Ballot after ballot was taken. The convention 
was deadlocked. The long vigils and sleepless 
nights brought no solution until somebody 
voiced the unspoken thought of many: "With 
Harding in the White House, the country can 
sleep nights." Slowly, surely, the deep, sober 
judgment of the convention began to crystal- 
lize about the sentiment. The more the dele- 
gates thought about it, the more they came to 
believe it — the wonder was that they had not 
thought about it before. Not by sudden action, 
but by slow birth, was chosen a new leader in 
American politics. 

Warren G. Harding was the man. 



WHEN THE NEWS REACHED THE 
HOME FOLKS 



IX 



WHEN THE NEWS REACHED THE 
HOME FOLKS 

AFTER the nomination in Chicago, the big 
whistles in the "shovel factory" at Marion 
sounded for the call to celebrate. They 
have the roar of an ocean liner. Here is where 
most of the steam shovels were manufactured 
that dug the Panama Canal. In the railroad res- 
taurant, and everywhere, were evidences of the 
celebration on Saturday night when the news was 
received from Chicago that "W. G." had been 
nominated. Every electric light post on East 
Center Street was adorned with a qluster of 
flags. Crude photographs were hastily posted 
in the windows of homes and stores. Here were 
the home folks among whom he had lived, and 
when I asked a small boy of twelve in the res- 
taurant if he had met Mr. Harding, "Nope, I 
never saw Mr. Harding, but you know we all 
just know him anyhow." Another lad entered 
whom they called "Happy," and his smiling face 

(65) 



G6 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

indicated the appropriateness of his name. 
Nothing escapes the brusque and frank ex- 
pressiveness of nicknames in real American boy- 
hfe. The trains were coming in from all direc- 
tions — Erie, Hocking Valley, Big Four and 
Pennsy., indicating that Marion may be another 
Canton for the pilgrimage of admirers and 
supporters of the candidate when the front 
porch campaign begins — a fitting setting for 
a porch campaign. 

East Center Street, with churches on one side 
and a school on the other, impressed the writer 
with what the average American town considers 
first. There was the omnipresent Orpheum and 
moving picture houses, billboards, and all the 
appurtenances that belong to the average city. 
It was a hot day, and some of the housewives 
were rocking on the porch under the vines for a 
breathing spell after the morning work. There 
was the old stone courthouse from which the 
street cars and interurban radiate. On the 
Marion County Bank was a sign saying it was 
founded in 1839, so that it must be understood 
that Marion is a city with a history. Every- 
body seemed to be mowing the front lawn, and 
painters were busy, for Marion appreciated its 
responsibility in the coming campaign. 



When the News Reached the Home Folks 67 

The temptation was too much, and I dropped 
in at the stores to find out just what thej^ 
thought of Warren Harding. One of the first 
I met was jolly Dick Crissinger. He an- 
nounced that he had always been a Democrat, 
but insisted that Warren G. Harding was a 
"live one" and this was the year that he would 
vote the Republican ticket. The plumbers, 
the bakers, the little shoe shops and the big 
department stores were filled with people who 
were eager to tell you about "W. G.," as he is 
aftectionately called. An organization was 
launched by Dick Crissinger, who was twice the 
Democratic nominee for Congress, to organize 
a Harding-for-President Club that would make 
the election practically unanimous in the Marion 
district. Old-time Republicans rubbed their 
eyes as they saw the wheel-horse Democrats at 
work for Harding. 

After the nomination the boys were kept busy 
sending bundles and bundles of letters and 
telegrams of congratulation pouring in from all 
cities and states to follow the candidate to 
Washington. The Hoo Hoos, good-natured 
with their black cat ensign, Knights of Pythias, 
Loyal Order of Moose, the Elks, Sons of Vet- 
erans, and every civic organization to which 
he belonged, vied with each other in fraternal 



68 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

and almost affectionate greetings, for Warren 
Harding pias been something of a "jiner." 

On Mount Vernon Avenue, lined with beautiful 
maples, is located the home of Mr. and Mrs. 
Warren G. Harding. They were preparing for 
the home-coming, and the seven hundred feet 
of porch space was being polished. It was a 
simple, modest, but substantial home. In the 
early struggles of the Star^ Warren Harding 
courted and won the favor of Florence Kling. 
The father opposed the match and insisted that 
they could not be married with his consent, but 
the young people kept on and drew the plans 
for a house of their own in which to be married. 
In the meantime, the bride-to-be studied the 
problems of the business manager of the Star, 
and the tide soon turned towards profits to help 
pay off the debt and build a home. 

The long-looked for day of the wedding ar- 
rived, and in the new house, scarcely completed, 
a simple ceremony which made the young edi- 
tor, Warren G. Harding, and Florence Kling 
man and wife, was performed without the pres- 
ence of the bride's father. 

As the guests departed, they saw the young 
bride and groom standing in the doorway, little 
thinking that their future home might be in the 
White House, at Washington. 



THE MEASURE OF THE MAN 



X 

THE MEASURE OF THE MAN 



THE real biography of Warren G. Harding 
will be written day by day, in act and deed 
under the pitiless spotlight of a Presiden- 
tial campaign. Every word, every inflection, 
almost every inner thought, is X-rayed by the 
earnest voter of the country seeking to get 
the truth concerning the man whose name will 
appear on over twenty million ballots — the 
white messengers of authority — scattered over 
the country like snowflakes on November 2, 
1920, on which the voters of the United States 
are to register with a simple mark of "X" or 
O.K. with a lead pencil, the measure of the 
man whom they choose to have as their Presi- 
dent to safeguard the interest of home and 
country while the mad tides of internationalism 
are threatening our own and other shores. 

Election day falls upon the anniversary of his 
birth; every ballot for him will be a birthday gift. 

How few people realize that in a Presidential 
election the individual vote that is cast is the 

(71) 



72 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

one direct contact that every citizen personally 
has with choosing the man he desires to repre- 
sent him as the chief executive of his country. 
The electoral college has long since become a 
mere matter of form, for the ballot is in itself a 
contract definitely expressed, that the policies 
of sound government, as indicated in the 
speeches and acts of Warren G. Harding, shall 
be carried out by and with the consent of the 
people and their representatives in Congress and 
the Judiciary, co-ordinating once more the 
three fundamental branches of government, as 
outlined in the Constitution. The virtue of 
this contract depends on promises fulfilled, 
and a violated pledge or breach of faith has never 
been associated with the public or private life 
of Warren G. Harding. 

His sense of loyalty to party covenants has 
been expressed in this following firm declaration : 

"Through political parties we have the means of ex- 
pressing our convictions and aspirations, and out of the 
composite view of the thinking people of America we 
write the covenant of party faith, which we translate 
into party action." 

Added to his other gifts is a rare sense of 
humor, which, to the delight of his hearers, 
crept into even the discussions of prosaic ques- 
tions and made him a favorite speaker in all 
parts of the country. The story of a hat bought 



The Measure of the Man 73 

in Paris, illustrative of how the tariff works, 
may be cited from the traditionally dull pages 
of the Congressional Record: 

CARRIED THE HAT HIMSELF 

"Now, what were facts? Bear in mind that I had 
given $40 for this hat in Paris, and the tariff is a tax, 
and the tariff is 60 per cent. 

"Well, this hat was a very beautiful specimen. It was 
a large one, and I, as the head of the family, became its 
special bearer and custodian. I carried that particular 
piece of millinery from Paris to Calais, and from Calais 
to Dover, and from Dover to London, and from London 
to Liverpool, and was bothered with it from one side of 
the Atlantic to the other, and when we landed in New 
York city, and a more or less vain woman put on her 
Paris hat here to go out and show it to New York, and 
we started down Fifth Avenue, we had not gone a block 
until in a show window was the identical hat that I 
purchased and carried from Paris. 

"The tariff is a tax, and I gave up $40 in Paris for a hat 
and found it in a window in New York city advertised 
at $24." 

Standing more than six feet in the flesh, with 
head erect and the steady eye of a gladiator, 
Warren Harding measures in character up to 
every task, with motives of honesty and justice; 
an indomitable instinct and purpose; an un- 
blemished armor of Honor. 

Thrice-armed he leads a cause that is just. 



CHARACTER THE REALITY 



XI 



CHARACTER THE REALITY 



EARLY in the campaign it was evident that 
Senator Harding was a candidate who 
would grow in favor the more he became 
known. The general impression concerning him 
in days following the nomination, among voters 
in his own party, was far from being a correct 
estimate of the man. As the days passed and 
those who knew him began to speak, the people 
began to understand. They looked again at 
his pictures and understood that under those 
dark shaggy eyebrows gleamed blue eyes as 
kindly as any that ever reflected the soul of a 
man. While in no sense self-opinionated, his 
life work has indicated that he is not an easy 
man for any clique or outside influence to con- 
trol. He has none of the angles of self-esteem 
that prevent him from getting on and working 
with other men. The keynote of his first utter- 
ances was an appeal for normal common sense. 

(77) 



78 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

He began early to seek advice and counsel. His 
election means a cabinet of strong, capable men 
whose counsel and guidance with Warren G. 
Harding's conception of executive functions 
will result in directing the Ship of State safely 
through the shoals of the coming years. The 
personnel of virile men already called for coun- 
sel includes men having some of the elements of 
power that characterized the names now famed 
through their association with the life and times 
of Abraham Lincoln. 

The businesslike and sensible way in which 
he grappled the problems of a candidate, fore- 
shadowed the sane poise of a president. He 
went direct from Chicago to Washington, un- 
affected by the demonstrations, to clear the 
decks and prepare for the event at the home 
town of Marion, where he delivered the notable 
speech of acceptance from the threshold of his 
own house. Here was initiated a porch campaign 
that may become as memorable as that of 
McKinley at Canton and Abraham Lincoln at 
Springfield. Evidence accumulated day by day 
as his speeches were delivered that here was a 
man to lead the country in the re-adjustment 
days of the nation. 



Character the Reality 79 

"Every action is measured by the depths of 
the sentiment from which it proceeds." This 
was the declaration of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
in commenting upon Abraham Lincoln during 
the war before the world had the measure of his 
greatness. Look for the source from which flows 
the acts of Warren Harding, and there is ever 
apparent a sentiment that assures the reality of 
his character. 

In the character of Warren G. Harding I am 
first impressed with his honesty and his consid- 
erate heart; also his way of attending strictly 
to his own business and duties. Meeting con- 
ditions day by day in the light of the average 
notions of average people, understood and ap- 
preciated by the average American, illustrates 
again how he reaches sound conclusions on 
great questions. 




Residence of Warren G. Harding at Marion, Ohio 



THE LOG BOOK OF LIFE 



XII 



THE LOG BOOK OF LIFE 



THE log book of Warren G. Harding's life 
indicates that he has traveled far and 
wide over this country, speaking from 
California to Maine, and Canada to Texas, 
addressing audiences in the large cities and 
small towns. During these years he has been 
able to analyze the aspirations of nearly every 
community in the United States, from the 
metropolis to the smallest hamlet. He speaks 
the language of the Far West, knows the ambi- 
tions of the Middle West, and is sympathetic 
in his knowledge and understanding of the 
problems of the East and South. He has met the 
people and debated public questions in much 
the same manner as Abraham Lincoln discussed 
them. In his Chautauqua addresses he has 
been able to make a cross-section survey of 
what the people think on public matters. 
On the stump he has grappled political prob- 

(83) 



84 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

lems with the virihty of an effective cam- 
paigner. 

Having seen America first, Warren G. Harding 
is one hundred per cent. American. In his study 
of the tariff and national questions, he went 
abroad to get the facts, reahzing that observation 
should be co-ordinated with information to 
insure an intelligent conception of any subject. 

One of the recommendations of Warren G. 
Harding is that he has the brevity of a trained 
editorial writer. He could not write or dictate 
an ambiguous, comprehensive, hypothetical sen- 
tence or paragraph if he tried. His thoughts 
have the power of direct transmission, and are 
not lost in a maze of rhetoric. 

The generosity of his nature was indicated 
when his father-in-law, who refused to attend 
the wedding of his daughter, announced himself 
as a candidate for public office. Everyone said : 
"Of course, Harding will oppose him." Instead 
he gave him the hearty endorsement of a loyal 
worker in the ranks. They became fast friends 
later, which continued until the death of Mr. 
Kling. He never used his own paper to boost 
his own political career. 

Senator Harding's wife, Mrs. Florence Kling 
Harding, has truly exemplified the comradeship 



The Log Book of Life 85 

and support of an American wife. Like Mrs. 
Theodore Roosevelt, Mrs. Harding believes that 
her husband belongs to the public, and in order 
to help him in his work maintains that her duty 
is first to the home. There's no glamor or 
procession of public functions to interfere. Her 
ambition is that of a helpmate and home-maker. 
Maintaining the wholesome spirit and atmos- 
phere of American home life, no matter what 
eminence may come to her distinguished 
husband, is the one life purpose of Florence 
Kling Harding. 

When Bastile Day, July 14th, was to be ob- 
served in Marion, Mrs. Harding discovered 
there was not a flag of France in the city. With 
the spirit of a descendant of French Huguenots, 
she sewed together strips of red, white, and blue, 
and the tri-color of France proudly floated from 
the Harding residence on the great French holi- 
day. The example of Betsy Ross was emu- 
lated. As a home-maker, Mrs. Harding has 
always delighted in doing those things that 
have through the years added to the glory and 
splendid traditions of American home life, ex- 
pressed with the modesty of a true helpmate: 

"W'arren does the talking, and I do the baking 
for the family." 



BY HIS GREETINGS YOU SHALL 
KNOW HIM 



XIII 

BY HIS GREETINGS YOU SHALL 
KNOW HIM 

THE interchange of personal greetings 
between the RepubHcan and Democratic 
candidates for President shows the broad 
mindedness and good nature of Warren Harding, 
and also the real calibre of the man. 
Senator Harding says: 

"I recall a much remarked cartoon which portrayed 
you and me as newsboys contesting for the White House 
delivery. It seems to have been prophetic. As an 
Ohioan and a fellow-pubHsher, I congratulate you on 
your notable victory." 

Governor Cox's message to Harding: 
"I accept your message as an evidence of the fraternal 
impulse which has always characterized the craft to 
which you and I belong. I heartily reciprocate the felici- 
tous spirit which you have expressed." 

In commenting upon Governor Cox's nomina- 
tion, Senator Harding said: 

"It is an added consideration shown to our great state 
of Ohio, for which I am glad, and gives reasonable assur- 

(89) 



90 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

ance that finally a newspaper man is to be made the 
nation's chief executive. Ohio has accorded Governor 
Cox very unusual distinction, and he deserved his notable 
victory at San Francisco. His nomination will not 
change our activities in any way in Ohio. It is a great 
party contest before us, to be fought on great principles 
involved, and neither place or residence nor personality 
will have any marked influence on the result." 

The following colloquial comment concerning 
his political opponent further reveals his pro- 
portions of greatness: 

"I don't know what he thinks of me, but Cox is a 
shrewd man, possessor of great political wisdom, and 
has made a very able Governor of Ohio, whom the 
people like and approve. He has done many things in 
Ohio. Cox is smart. He understands politics. He 
makes a very impressive speech. I have great respect 
for his newspaper ability." 

As the legislative and public record of Warren 
G. Harding is reviewed, or searched with X-ray 
thoroughly by opponents, his staunch and stal- 
wart qualities are further reflected. He is 
frankly and avowedly a party man, believing 
in the wisdom of the many. In the conduct of 
public affairs in a Republic he insists that no 
one man's wisdom is suflScient. As he said : 

"The covenant of our party must be the deliberate 
and harmonized convictions of representative Repub- 
lican thought, digested in national councils." 



By His Greetings You Shall Know Him 91 

There is no doubt as to where he stands on 
every question that confronts him, for he has 
the happy faculty of expressing honest convic- 
tion without a camouflage construction of double 
meaning, blowing hot and cold. The biography 
of Warren G. Harding in the Congressional 
Directory, which is furnished by each individual 
Senator, is counted the model of brevity and 
modesty, and could scarcely have been con- 
densed — even by one letter or a punctuation 
mark. 

Even his political opponents recognize him, 
not as an enemy, but as a man who is always 
broad-minded and human in his outlook: "As 
a man, he is good to look upon and to be trusted, 
and there is in him an assuring indemnity if our 
party loses." 

In all the years of active public life he has 
made few enemies, but these enemies have felt 
the hard blow of righteous indignation which 
he delivers with a power of conviction, fighting 
for a principle rather than from personal feeling 
or passion. 

His native Ohio loves him because it knows 
him first as a man. He has spoken many times 
in all but one of the eighty-eight counties of 
the state. The "home folks" believed years 



92 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

ago that he was of the proportions of a states- 
man, just as Lincoln's home folks believed him 
before national renown came and despite a 
rather colorless career as Congressman, which 
did not estimate or foreshadow his later fame. 

Senator Harding will never fill the role of a 
solitary wise man, but fulfills the ideals of a 
constitutional statesman. True to constitu- 
tional form, he insists upon formulating his 
political creed through his party and advisers — 
even reaching beyond the boundaries of his own 
party lines for advice and counsel, in order to 
reach the true balance, which reflects the wis- 
dom, sound sense, and clarity of judgment 
recognized in the man. 

Life is one round of greetings — morning, noon, 
and night have their salutations — which mark 
"the manner of the man." Now the insistent 
telephone bell makes one continuous merry 
chime of intermittent greeting. The cheery 
"hello" of the Republican candidate was in- 
dexed in his speech of acceptance as a grand 
hailing sign to America. It has inspired the 
people to "call" again. The voters will "put in 
a call" November 2 for Warren G. Harding that 
will secure a clear line for Uncle Sam to tell him 
that it was — 

"America first!" 



HIS RELATIONS WITH THEODORE 
ROOSEVELT 



XIV 

HIS RELATIONS WITH THEODORE 
ROOSEVELT 

THE fact that Theodore Roosevelt in 1916 
turned to Senator Harding to prepare an 
amendment to the Selective Draft Law 
indicated his faith in Warren G. Harding's 
capacity to direct the most vital war matters 
before Congress. 

The legal and legislative ability that secured 
the passage of the bill through both houses of 
a Congress which was politically hostile, was an 
early triumph for Senator Harding as a national 
leader in the Senate. It remained for President 
Wilson's veto to keep Theodore Roosevelt "out 
of the war," with four sons as volunteers, and 
France calling for his help. There was perfect 
personal and political accord between Colonel 
Roosevelt and Senator Harding, lasting until 
the death of the intrepid leader, who aroused 
the United States to the full consciousness of 
its duty. The Colonel conferred with Senator 

(.95) 



96 Warren G. Harding—The Man 

Harding many times, and the firm friendship 
remained unbroken until his untimely death. 
Associates and the family of Theodore Roose- 
velt regarded Harding as a friend true-blue. 
Roosevelt recognized that the Republican party 
must be restored to power to save the country 
from the wave of ineflSciency and wanton waste- 
fulness and the drift toward anarchy. This, he 
felt, must be accomplished by unity and har- 
mony, and he warmly appreciated the services 
of Senator Harding as a leader. 

In demanding at the height of the coal short- 
age that the Interstate Commerce Commission 
assign coal cars at the mines pro rata, without 
favoritism, Senator Harding made a Roosevelt- 
ian stroke. He recognized that with the miners 
it was not altogether a matter of wages, but 
steady employment. To break the custom of 
working only a few days at high wages to be 
consumed in idle days, owing to shortage of cars, 
was the crux of the matter. The miner's welfare 
depends on how many days he can work, and 
calculate his year's income to meet the year's 
living expenses, with all its fluctuations. This 
prompt action of Senator Harding is recognized 
as the first constructive legislation for the 
miners passed in many years, and a forward 




Office Building of the MXrion "Star" 




Editorial Desk at which Warren G. Harding Worked 



His Relations with Theodore Roosevelt 97 

step of permanent advantage to consumer, opera- 
tor and miner in eliminating waste. 

Senator Harding voted and worked for the 
National Suffrage Amendment, with an idea of 
obtaining permanent results rather than make 
a spectacular crusade that would attract 
admiration or plaudits. The basic rights for 
woman suffrage he believed was settled in 1776. 

With a courage unflinching, he has put him- 
self in the background time and time again 
when the interest of his party or country came 
first. He has even faced the charge of reaction- 
ary with a cool head, and has dared to defy the 
charge of demagogue. Honesty, sound to the 
core, is the inherent and supreme virtue of 
Warren G. Harding. He has never been sym- 
pathetic with class or race appeal, but his 
record on the labor problems has been made 
with a conception that labor is first of all 
entitled to American rights. His votes on labor 
issues indicate his clear-headed judgment on 
securing positive and permanent benefits justly 
and squarely as citizens and not as a class. His 
own personal relations with labor tell the story 
in deeds, and the appreciation of laboring men 
and union men, who are closest to him, is only 
a logical sequence. Capital, labor, or any 



98 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

clique cannot hope to brow-beat or swerve 
Warren G. Harding from settled convictions 
with an appeal to expediency. The question 
comes back: "Is it right?" 

With the prospect of seventeen million women 
voting and ten million more who are not voting 
in th'C South, the coming campaign will be an 
interesting revelation as to the influence of the 
women in naming a President of the United 
States. The strong, stalwart Warren G. Hard- 
ing, with a personal life as clean as a hound's 
tooth, will prove as popular with men, as a 
man's man, and with American women who insist 
upon a manhood that will honor American 
homes — his first concern in public service. 

Warren Harding's life passion has been an 
admiration for honesty as the first attribute of 
every man entering public service. This was 
shown in his reverent tribute to Theodore 
Roosevelt : 

"We can never hope properly to raise the public 
standard until we elevate the individual standard. The 
main thing is to get honest men. . . . There is no end 
to the reformation honesty will work. It exalts men 
and commands confidence. Colonel Roosevelt was a fine 
example. The American worship of Colonel Roosevelt is 
founded on the popular belief in his absolute honesty." 

The spirit of Roosevelt goes marching on! 



A FOUR-SQUARE LEADER 



XV 

A FOUR-SQUARE LEADER 



BORN on a farm, a worker on the soil who 
wore overalls and jeans, one who comes 
directly from the soil, the farmers know 
that honesty in Warren G. Harding is a natural 
and necessary consequence of birth and breed- 
ing. He has long been understood by farmers 
of Ohio as one who has a genuine, sympathetic 
appreciation of agricultural problems. While 
the rural vote of the country may never all unite 
on any one candidate, the one who possesses 
the undoubted characteristic of the embattled 
farmers at Lexington will not be overlooked in 
their calculations. The erstwhile Ohio farm 
lad has the qualities demanded in a public 
servant since the earliest colonial days. 

There's never been any doubt as to where 
Warren Harding stands on the dry question. 
A constitutional act with him is law. He has 
not been affected by sodden dew and will do 

(iti) 



102 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

nothing to attract a wet vote by subterfuge. 
He stands on this question as on others — four- 
square to the winds. Not for any human 
reward would he sacrifice convictions or stultify 
conscience. 

Suffrage in Ohio was thwarted for a time by 
being confused in the mix-up of the wet and dry 
fight. The voters will not be confused as to 
where Warren G. Harding stands on any ques- 
tion of law or principle. 

Every word or phrase that he uttered in the 
Senate of Ohio or the Senate of the United 
States has been scanned and re-read with 
searching interest. His utterances written and 
spoken are an open book. 

The fact that all the opposing candidates in 
the Republican Convention of 1920, including 
the leaders, General Leonard Wood, Herbert 
Hoover, Frank O. Lowden and Hiram Johnson, 
have endorsed Warren Harding on the out- 
standing issues of the 1920 campaign is proof 
positive of his soundness as a Republican 
leader. His staunch Americanism is the answer 
to the wild and insidious internationalism under 
which bolshevism masquerades. 

His record indicates that the problem of re- 
organizing departments of the government to 



A Four-Square Leader 103 

a peace basis, and eliminating wanton waste 
is one that he has trained for in a Hfelong 
business experience. The government handles 
its problems through departments. It is im- 
portant that these departments cease to pyra- 
mid expense and pile up useless burdens on the 
people of this and coming generations. The 
business genius of Warren G. Harding is one 
that can be trusted to adjust the chaotic condi- 
tions and make the government function for 
efficiency. The largest corporations recruit 
their efficient managers among executives who 
have solved the problems of smaller units. 
Warren Harding looms up now, called to under- 
take this work in the same conscientious manner 
that has characterized his previous career. 
Determined to do away with imperialism and 
executive autocracy, he will call his directors 
and shape the policy of responsible party gov- 
ernment with the counsel of a strong cabinet. 

His public addresses prior to the nomination 
are sufficient to forecast an inaugural address 
that will meet the pressing issues of the times. 
One of these addresses had the stirring note of 
challenge : 

Break the shackles of wartime legislation for both 
business and citizens. Cut out the extravagance of 



104 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

government and of individuals. Get back to the Con- 
stitution and stand on it immovably. Those who com- 
plain at the inefficiency of party government are really 
criticizing the substitute they propose, because every 
weakness of the present day is chargeable to the im- 
paired party system. For such failure to meet the 
people's expectations as our party must answer to to- 
day, I answer an insufficient party sponsorship. To alter 
our political system now, after the marvel of American 
achievement, would be the abandonment of that which 
made us what we are, and endangers the republic more 
than the threat of destruction by force. 

When Tennyson described "that tower of 
strength who stood four-square to all the winds 
that blew" he voiced the final test of leadership 
in a crisis. 

With all the shifting winds on the seven seas 
of the political world, in these turbulent times, 
blowing now gales, now squalls and now lashing 
into a fury of threatening warring white caps, 
a cool-headed pilot with firm hand and stout 
heart is needed at the helm of an national craft, 
flying the stars and stripes. 

"And thou, too, Oh Ship of State, Sail on! 
Sail on!" 



ANECDOTAL "CLOSE-UPS' 



XVI 



ANECDOTAL "CLOSE-UPS" 



EARLY in the Presidential campaign anec- 
dotes concerning Warren G. Harding came 
thick and fast. Interest in the personahty 
of the candidate increased, as he became better 
known to the people. His insistence that it 
was not the candidate, but the party and its 
councils that must prevail, did not encourage 
anecdotal endorsement of himself. And yet, 
these anecdotal bits day by day added to favor- 
able impressions upon which his popularity 
continued to gain. 

On a New Year's afternoon, during a recess 
of the Senate, he was found in the composing 
room of the Marion Star, green shade over his 
eyes, corncob pipe in his firm and well-set jaw. 
He was "making up" the paper, and the way 
he handled the printers' rule indicated the 
craftsman. The shock of senatorial hair was 
tousled and there was ink on his face, but he 

(197) 



108 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

was working with a will to get the paper to 
press. A caller shouted: 

"You are a bird of a United States Senator!" 

"I would be a bird of a United States Senator 
if I didn't know how to do anything else." 

This was the calm reply of Warren G. Hard- 
ing, with a twinkle in his blue eyes, who insisted 
that the first duty in life is to know how to do 
things. He was puffing away and pushing the 
work so that the paper could go to press and give 
his boys a holiday. He worked with the same 
will as when he and Mrs. Harding used to count 
the pennies to meet the payroll and current 
bills. It was locked up firm, and in the very 
lock-up of this type form was an index to the 
character of Warren Harding. He has never 
forgotten how to work with his hands and pro- 
duce things. He insists he can send a "form" 
to the stereotyper with more speed than any 
man in the shop. 

His reverent use of the "print shop towel" on 
this occasion, with its cubist smears of ink, 
called up memories. On the second floor he 
proceeded to wash up, and, after putting on the 
old smoking jacket, prepared to write an edi- 
torial "for the paper tomorrow." As he wrote 
in long hand on the scratch pad, he continued 



Anecdotal "Close-ups** 109 

to converse between the paragraphs. There 
was a sudden lull in the press room. His quick 
ear discerned it. Down he went to the base- 
ment and in the quiet way of the old days sug- 
gested something that helped fix things, and the 
boys got out the edition in time and caught the 
mails. His people all had their extra holiday 
and he had his fun. Another visit to the 
"print shop towel," with plenty of soap, and 
he was back upstairs to complete the editorial. 
On the editorial desk of Warren Harding 
have been written many human interest stories 
that have a real flavor of life. There was the 
story of "Hub," the Boston terrier, who was 
the inseparable companion. Since the days he 
wandered down the lane driving the cows, 
Warren Harding has had a dog. He loved this 
dog, in fact he loves all animals, and his kindness 
to animals was the same as to people. The 
editorial tribute-paid on the passing of "Hub," 
his dumb friend, is worthy of a place in literature 
with that classic plea of Senator George Vest 
in the court room, describing the devotion of a 
dog. His description of "The Death of the 
Blind Man's Son" is a bit of the literature that 
sparkled frequently in the pages of the Marion 
Star. Ten years after it was printed a tramp 



110 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

printer who had put it in type met Senator 
Harding and repeated word for word the tribute 
to the bhnd man's son. 

Senator Harding's biography is a bundle of 
common, everyday incidents of everyday people 
of the country. From this vast majority Sena- 
tor Harding sprang. The simple recital of the 
career of an average and representative man of 
the people; a plain citizen, neither a genius, 
hero, nor superman, makes every American feel 
that, whatever else may be said of Warren G. 
Harding, he is truly one of us. 

Sitting in the terrace outside the Marble 
Room of the Senate one summer's day in 1918, 
I asked Senator Harding what message I should 
carry to young men and women of today on a 
Chautauqua tour. 

"Impress them with the importance of think- 
ing more of what they can do;- have an objec- 
tive and drive toward it. There are more op- 
portunities under the new order of things than 
the old. The world is progressing, and the 
ideals of sound government will prevail. Keep 
in touch with older people — those who have 
lived. You know I imbibed much of the philos- 
ophy of life from Chandler Smith, the blacksmith 



Anecdotal *' Close-ups** ill 

near Caledonia. There was something alluring 
in the smell of that red blacksmith shop. And 
when shoeing horses, Mr. Smith could comment 
like a sage, with the horse's tail swinging in his 
face. He was one of the men who made me 
think of what I could do, because he encouraged 
and exemplified strength with every blow on 
the anvil, and his life was a ringing call to the 
joy of honest labor." 

As a lad he had the ambition to see in a real 
theatre some of Shakespeare's plays which he 
had read in school. With his chum he went 
to the city after saving money as diligently as 
if it were a circus. They occupied cheap seats 
in the uppermost gallery. With wide-opened 
eyes they visioned Shakespeare's genius in the 
glow of footlights. It was like a new world un- 
folded to them. That night they bunked to- 
gether — it took all their combined capital to 
pay for the room — but they bantered back and 
forth in Shakespeareian phrases in thrilling 
tones. 

« * * 4s 

Warren Harding's life represents merited 
reward for honest toil. His wealth is not counted 
in millions. He has not accumulated money 
other than through the slow and sterling pro- 



112 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

cesses of business. Every penny of his money 
has come through clean and square deahng with 
fellow-men. In business or in private life 
there is no deal of Warren Harding's that took 
an unfair advantage of friend or foe, no matter 
what the profits might promise. As a leader 
in the onslaught that is sure to come against 
profiteers and their ill-gotten gains, Warren G. 
Harding is the man who understands the 
burdens of the multitude and how honest profits 
are a safeguard to industrial stability. 

Over and over again some of his friends ask: 
"Is he stern and cross as he appears in the 
picture?" 

This question brings a smile to those who 
know him, for his kindly, gentle and just nature 
is the dominant quality of the man, but contact 
day by day, in look, act and deed, gives a pic- 
ture and memory of Warren G. Harding to 
those who know him that no painting or photo- 
graph can fully interpret. 

The camera sometimes fails to portray in 
the countenance that something which the 
public thought unfailingly divines in the inner 
soul of a man or woman. 




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THE TEST OF A PRINTER-PARTNER 



XVII 
THE TEST OF A PRINTER-PARTNER 



F 



ROM a printer-partner in the early days 
comes a tribute worthy of one who has 
stood the test of every phase of friendship. 



[From the Chicago News.] 
[Jack Warwick of the Toledo Blade has long been a 
friend of Senator Harding's. At the time of Grover 
Cleveland's first election they both played horns in the 
Marion band, and afterward joined forces as Republicans 
and newspaper men.] 



This is about me and the Republican nominee for 
president of the United States. 

."I knew him when " 

Truth is mighty and must wail. Too many false- 
hoods have been given out about Warren Gamaliel 
Harding — "W. G." for short. This is especially true of 
his brass band past. People have been confused in their 
minds with Hi Henry, who flourished about the same 
time. Hi and W. G. didn't play in the same band and 
their methods were different. Hi could play either pp 
or ff, and was impartial between the little end and big 

(116) 



116 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

end of a crescendo movement. W, G. was strong for 
the big end. 

Truth further forces the admission that Warren G. 
Harding had no more brass band conspicuity than I had. 
We began to make the night hideous in the same organi- 
zation. He was conspicuous because he was big and 
blew the smallest horn, and I was conspicuous because 
I was small and blew the biggest horn. Destiny main- 
tains a balance for her own. But let that go. 

My recollection is that the beginning of the collapse 
of W. G.'s horn-blowing ambitions took place in Novem- 
ber, 1884. Grover Cleveland's election had much to do 
with it. The Democrats of Marion were turning off a 
big hurrah in celebration of the temporary resurrection 
of the party. Johnnie Sickel, a friend of mine, and I 
drove a pair of yellow ponies nine miles to hear the re- 
heartened rank and file chortle with glee. Harding with 
his cornet was furnishing the keynote for the wolves of 
Democracy to howl by. 

When the parade was over he found Sickel and me in 
front of a restaurant. We all went in to eat to Harding's 
hunger. It was there that the exhausted hornblower 
sez, sezze: 

"Jack, let's buy the Marion Daily Star." 

"If we do," I asked, "who's going to pay for these 
oysters?" 

Then Johnnie broke in: "The treat's on me boys, 
oysters and Star." 

That was the beginning of the resuscitation of the 
rundown, flea bitten, four page paper that has since 
become a vital force in the county of Marion, Ohio. 



The Test of a Printer-Partner 117 

Harding did it. He gave up the cornet for the Star. I 
question whether he ever fully recovered from having 
blown that horn in celebration of Grover Cleveland's 
triumph while his heart was aching over James G. 
Blaine's defeat, 

"I knew him when " 

It was a shock to my nerves to wake up last Saturday 
evening and find myself famous, through no fault of my 
own. Harding had done it. The man with whom I 
had worked in various capacities for nearly twenty years 
was nominated for the biggest job in the country. I 
must say I worked "with him" in deference to his wishes. 
Always it was his desire and request that associates and 
co-laborers should avoid saying they worked "for him." 
He never wanted them to say that. If he lacks any- 
thing, it is the elements of a czar. 

Well, it was a long time before the Star began to make 
as much noise in the community as the old brass band 
had done. It was a daily ostensibly, but publication 
had been intermittent. The first thing we had to do 
was to get it to come out every day, in the evening. 
That was done finally, and only a week or two of regu- 
larity was required to establish a bit of confidence in the 
minds of the people. 

W. G. was an indefatigable worker. He worked in- 
side and outside the office. He messed in printer's ink 
until the office devil was immaculate by comparison. 
Whatever his hands could find to do he dirtied them 
with it. Honest toil was written over his shirtsleeves 
in black splotches. In those days, in that community, 



118 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

the value of printer's ink was not as well established as 
now. W. G. was a pioneer in the belief that it paid to 
advertise, and he could prove it by his shirt. 

William G. McAdoo's patched pants would have been 
an impotent political asset in the Marion Daily Star 
office. For this I may be denounced and denied a cabi- 
net position, but as I said before, truth is mighty and 
must wail. Read it slowly. At one time Warren G. 
Harding had to go to bed, in mid-afternoon, near the 
hour of going to press, to have his pants repaired. For- 
tunately the repairs were made in time to get the paper 
on the press at the accustomed hour. 

There were many hard days and long nights in the 
old Star office. But through them all Harding was in 
and out among the workers, one of them, and with a 
sense of humor that shortened the hours. Most of the 
way in the early days the traveling was up hill, but 
through all the rough stuff of disappointment W. G. 
kept his head up and face toward success. And when 
success came it did not change the man. He was the 
same human, cordial, whole-souled fellow workman 
among his employes. 

"I knew him when " 

Yes, I knew him when he was at grips with fate and 
before. I knew him in school and in the ole swimmin' 
hole days, in his boyhood home, which was a family 
shrine. I have gone with him to the cow pasture and 
have seen him milk. He knows the producing side of 
a cow. I have seen him on the loaded farm wagon, 
have seen him paint a house and have seen him make 
a broom. 



The Test of a Printer -Partner 119 

But of all the days that I knew him those nearly 
twenty years in the same printing office are the most 
vivid. There he stood up to man's height and faced 
the world in a hard struggle, unyielding in the teeth of 
discouragement and holeproof ridicule. 

It's my personal opinion that W. G. ought to be 
elected. 

Jack Warwick. 

Toledo, Ohio, June 18. 



CHAMPION OF AMERICANISM 



XVIII 



CHAMPION OF AMERICANISM 



THE American people will vote for Warren 
G. Harding because he is the Republican 
standard bearer. The party is united as 
never before. Recognized as a man among men, 
he can work with others and eliminate executive 
autocracy. The qualities of Harding that im- 
press the people are honesty, tact, firmness, lack 
of pretense. He knows human nature and the 
plain people. 

He has won his own way in the world and has 
lived and grown up among the people, not to 
spectacular heights of wealth but to a compe- 
tence which all Americans are entitled to hope for. 
He won the respect of the neighborhood, and as 
the neighborhood area is extended into national 
proportions, he grew naturally and inevitably 
into national leadership. He is a product of 
the soil — wholesome all through. An efficient 
factor in Congress during the world war, 

(123) 



124 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

Senator Warren G. Harding was among the 
first to see Wilson's fallacies before and after 
the war on preparedness — both for war and 
peace. He was one of the thirty -nine Senators 
who joined in the Round Robin protest. His 
service in Washington during these eventful 
years has made him thoroughly conversant 
with domestic and foreign affairs. His experi- 
ence with industrial operations and knowledge of 
the necessities of a protective tariff to furnish 
employment for the American people will enable 
them to guard against the influx of foreign goods, 
which would mean stagnation at home. Prac- 
tical, sensible, aggressive, he has demonstrated 
qualities of a capable executive equal to the 
great tasks of the hour. Best of all, to complete 
his high qualifications, he is a lovable, domestic 
human — one of the people — a convincing public 
speaker, and whether from porch, platform or 
in public print, he knows how to interpret the 
public mind. His real character and propor- 
tions will become known to the people as they 
are known by the legion of friends, whose con- 
victions grow deeper that Warren G. Harding 
is truly the man to lead in epochal times. 

As a champion of protection, Warren G. Hard- 
ing is a crusader fully equipped and ready to 



Champion of Americanism 125 

meet the challenge of the Democratic platform 
of 1920 for a "tariff for revenue." The Repub- 
lican party affirmed its belief in the protective 
principle, and pledged itself to revision as soon 
as conditions make it necessary for the preser- 
vation of the market for American labor, agri- 
culture, and industries. 

President Buchanan, a Democrat, comment- 
on the tariff for revenue of 1846 said: 

In the midst of unsurpassed plenty in all the pro- 
ductions and elements of national wealth, we find our 
manufactures suspended, our public works retarded, 
our private enterprises of various kinds abandoned and 
thousands of useful laborers thrown out of employment 
and reduced to distress. 

Referring to the same period of tariff for 
revenue. President McKinley drew a similar 
picture in these words: 

But instead of insuring prosperity it produced uni- 
versal distress and want; instead of raising money to 
support the government, even during a period of peace 
and wonderful development, the system of duties it 
provided was utterly insufficient and produced results 
exactly the opposite of those claimed for it. As soon 
as the foreign wars ceased the revenue began to diminish 
and the expenditures to exceed it, thus creating de- 



126 Warren G. Harding — The Man 

ficiencies and forcing loans and increasing our national 
debt from $15,500,000 in 1846 to $90,580,000 on March 4, 
1861. 

In 1913 came another period of low tariff, 
when Martin W. Littleton, a Democratic mem- 
ber of Congress, reported: 

New York is at this moment the centre of the most 
remarkable pessimism I have ever known. There is a 
sense of depression and dismay here that I have not 
seen before in this great city during the seventeen years 
that I have known it. 

These are the unfailing results of tariff-for- 
re venue policies, and Warren G. Harding knows 
his history of American political and economic 
developments. He realized that war conditions 
in 1914 saved the country from the disaster 
of another calamity under the Underwood Act, 
which is still in force and must remain in force 
until a Republican President is elected who will 
not veto a protective tariff bill. 

With a voice of prophecy Warren G. Harding 
one month preceding his nomination, when he 
or his friends had little thought of his becoming 
the Republican leader in this crucial campaign, 
outlined in ringing tones to the Home Market 
Club in Boston the parting of the ways and a 



Champion of Americanism 127 

dominant issue of the campaign. He spoke as 
a thorough-going American, experienced in legis- 
lation, who aimed at definite objectives, for the 
interest of all the country in meeting an im- 
pending crisis: 

When the world restores normal production it is 
going to seek the American market, and you will have 
a new order to face then. And yet I remember that 
in 1912 we were promised a reduced cost of living. We 
were to sharpen our wits in competition with the world. 
We sharpened our wits, but dulled our production. 
You have forgotten it now, but we were on the skids in 
1914. Nothing but the world war saved us. We pro- 
tected our home market with war's barrage. But the 
barrage was lifted with the passing of the war. The 
American people will not heed today because world 
competition is not yet restored, but the morrow will soon 
come when the world will seek our markets, and we must 
think of America first or surrender American eminence. 
I believe most cordially in the home market first for the 
American product. There is no other way to assure our 
prosperity. 

Young America, with its red-blooded hopes; 
first voters with their visions; American man- 
hood and womanhood in their struggles and 
triumphs; veterans in the sunset of life, all 
find their own aspirations revealed in the life 
experiences and record of the Republican leader 



128 Warren G. Harding— The Man 

of 1920. Their ideals of Americanism will be 
declared by ballot and support of the conviction 
that Warren G. Harding is the measure of a man 
to be chosen President of the United States. 



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